Oympiargh!

[gmajor]

You know, it just strikes me as hypocritical of citizens taking such pride in the accomplishments of the Olympic athletes, when those same athletes are so often struggling for support and sponsorship during their training, and employment afterwards

Comments

[seal_clubber]

I have noticed (and I'm sure it's been noticed and commented on before, but hey, I'm slow) that around my office, when a team or Olympian wins, people say things like "We won the gold!" or "We won!". On the other side of the coin, the people in my office say "I can't believe they lost!" or "They lost again!"

I find it interestng that it's "We" when the athletes win, and it's "They" when they lose.

However, I do think that the country does have something to do with wins/losses, at least at the olympic levels. The amount of money each country feeds into its Olympic program seems to have a lot to do with how well the athletes do in any given event. You don't see any of the poorer countries home a lot of medals; it's always The U.S., Canada, Russia, etc. The big spenders

[gmajor]

...when a team or Olympian wins, people say things like "We won the gold!" or "We won!". On the other side of the coin, the people in my office say "I can't believe they lost!" or "They lost again!" I find it interestng that it's "We" when the athletes win, and it's "They" when they lose.

That's very interesting, and kind of my point, yeah. How is the victory owned if the loss isn't?

You don't see any of the poorer countries home a lot of medals; it's always The U.S., Canada, Russia, etc. The big spenders.

Fair enough. And true they are there, in one sense to represent their respective countries. Nobody participates in the Olympics who isn't attached to a country. "And the gold was won by Bob Smith of No Fixed Address!"

[starfishchick]

Not entirely true, actually. Some people who have no country (i.e., the people of Tibet, at the summer games, not the winter) march in under the Olympic flag because technically Tibet is a part of China. (Or something. Details are hard, sometimes.)